Page 15 of Crazy Love

He stares at me for a long moment, the tension between us thick. “How is your friend?”

“She’s good. Had a bad concussion and has to go to the chiropractor often, but it could’ve been so much worse.”

He nods and then runs his hands through his perfect hair. It falls back into place in a way that I’m jealous of. “You lied to me, Addy…Adeline. When were you going to tell me you’re Coach Evans’ daughter?”

I make a face and sag against his car. “I didn’t lie. I just…didn’t tell you everything.”

“Same thing.”

“Not exactly.”

He shoots me another look but sags against his car next to me. “Is that why you said your name was Addy? You were afraid I’d know?”

“I go by both. But…maybe.” I shrug. “I really liked the way you looked at me when you didn’t know.”

He stares at me and a chill skitters over my arms. And then he shakes his head and a choked laugh comes out of him.

“I can’t believe you’re Coach Evans’ daughter. I have so much respect for that man and his coaching, but…yeah…he does not care for me too much.”

I frown. “Why is that?”

He shakes his head. “I wish I knew. It’s kind of been that way since I joined the team.”

That doesn’t sound like my dad, but he did warn me about Penn. I wonder why. Penn might be a player, but a player probably wouldn’t be this disappointed in me. Would he?

“Well…I’m glad I had a chance to talk to you before running into you at the training facility. Training starts on Monday, right?”

He blows out a long breath. “Yeah. It does.”

“I hope we can put this behind us,” I say. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you right away who I was. Sorry for leaving and not saying goodbye…” My face scrunches up. “Sorry about all of it.”

“Don’t be sorry about all of it,” he says. He lifts off of the vehicle. “That would mean you regretted the kiss.”

I want to tell him I could never regret that, but he speaks before I can, and it’s probably for the best.

“I’ll see you around,AdelineEvans.” His voice is distant and he gives me a little salute before moving to his car door.

I step away and watch as he drives away, lifting my hand in a wave when he glances at me one more time.

Damn. I just thought this was going to be hard. Now that I’ve seen him, I don’t know how I’m going to survive.

CHAPTER FIVE

SIGNS

PENN

I don’t know how I drive away from Addy, because the last thing I want to do is leave her after I’ve just found her, but holy fuck. What the hell just happened? The girl I’ve been pining over is Adeline Evans?

My pulse is hammering. My brain keeps replaying the moment—her standing there staring back at me, finding out who she was…and realizing she knew who I was all along.

She knew. The whole time.

I don’t even realize I’ve driven to the Mustangs training facility until I’m there. I park and exhale sharply, then pull out my phone and open the group chat.

Emergency Single Dad Players meeting. Whenever you’re able.

Henley

---